diff --git a/Cantera/src/base/ctml.cpp b/Cantera/src/base/ctml.cpp
index 13c7b8adb..c5c9d3596 100755
--- a/Cantera/src/base/ctml.cpp
+++ b/Cantera/src/base/ctml.cpp
@@ -618,9 +618,21 @@ namespace ctml {
      * v.
      */
   void getStringArray(const XML_Node& node, vector<string>& v) {
+    string val = node.value();
+    getStringArray(val, v);
+  }
+
+    /**
+     * This function interprets the value portion of an XML element
+     * as a string. It then separates the string up into tokens
+     * according to the location of white space.
+     * The separate tokens are returned in the string vector,
+     * v.
+     */
+  void getStringArray(const std::string& oval, vector<string>& v) {
+    std::string val(oval);
     string::size_type ibegin, iend;
     v.clear();
-    string val = node.value();
     while (1 > 0) {
       ibegin = findFirstNotOfWS(val);
       //val.find_first_not_of(" \n\t");
@@ -640,10 +652,8 @@ namespace ctml {
 	break;
       }
     }
-
   }
 
-
   void getFunction(const XML_Node& node, string& type, doublereal& xmin,
 		   doublereal& xmax, vector_fp& coeffs) {
     const XML_Node& c = node.child("floatArray");
diff --git a/Cantera/src/base/ctml.h b/Cantera/src/base/ctml.h
index b5e49eef0..0ee3b80dd 100755
--- a/Cantera/src/base/ctml.h
+++ b/Cantera/src/base/ctml.h
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ namespace ctml {
         std::string nodeName = "floatArray");
 
     void getStringArray(const Cantera::XML_Node& node, std::vector<std::string>& v);
+    void getStringArray(const std::string& val, std::vector<std::string>& v);
     void getMap(const Cantera::XML_Node& node, std::map<std::string, std::string>& m);
     void getPairs(const Cantera::XML_Node& node, std::vector<std::string>& key, 
         std::vector<std::string>& val);
diff --git a/Cantera/src/base/stringUtils.cpp b/Cantera/src/base/stringUtils.cpp
index a19ace6fa..98c7b3789 100755
--- a/Cantera/src/base/stringUtils.cpp
+++ b/Cantera/src/base/stringUtils.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include <ctype.h>
+#include "ctml.h"
 
 namespace Cantera {
 
@@ -72,7 +74,7 @@ namespace Cantera {
       return std::string(" ");
     }
 
-    std::string lowercase(std::string s) {
+    std::string lowercase(const std::string &s) {
         int n = static_cast<int>(s.size());
         std::string lc(s);
         for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) lc[i] = tolower(s[i]);
@@ -394,4 +396,19 @@ namespace Cantera {
 	return rval;
     }
 
+
+  doublereal strSItoDbl(const std::string& strSI) {
+    std::vector<std::string> v;
+    ctml::getStringArray(strSI, v);
+    doublereal fp = 1.0;
+    int n = v.size();
+    if (n > 2 || n < 1) {
+       throw CanteraError("strSItoDbl",
+			  "number of tokens is too high");
+    } else if (n == 2) {
+      fp = toSI(v[1]);
+    }
+    doublereal val = atofCheck(v[0].c_str());
+    return (val * fp);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/Cantera/src/base/stringUtils.h b/Cantera/src/base/stringUtils.h
index 21a50b51c..73657202b 100755
--- a/Cantera/src/base/stringUtils.h
+++ b/Cantera/src/base/stringUtils.h
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ namespace Cantera {
   std::string int2str(int n);
   std::string stripws(std::string s);
   std::string stripnonprint(std::string s);
-  std::string lowercase(std::string s);
+  std::string lowercase(const std::string &s);
   void parseCompString(const std::string ss, compositionMap& x);
   void split(const std::string ss, std::vector<std::string>& w);
   int fillArrayFromString(const std::string& str, doublereal* a, char delim = ' ');
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ namespace Cantera {
 
   int stripLTWScstring(char str[]);
   double atofCheck(const char *dptr);
+  doublereal strSItoDbl(const std::string& strSI); 
 
 }